Afternoon Drive withJoanne Joseph

The prevalence of child abandonment in South Africa is an indication of South Africa's socio-economic situation according to Pam Wilson, National Adoption Coalition SA Spokesperson.

At least 3 500 babies are abandoned annually.

Speaking on the possible factors leading to abandonment, Wilson says many mothers are living in extreme poverty.

We often say that the profile of the abandoning mother is very similar to the poor South African mother who comes forward to voluntarily sign their child off for adoption.

— Pam Wilson, National Adoption Coalition SA Spokesperson

A lot of them are illegal immigrants with no support structures and they are here, terrified of presenting themselves to authorities in case they are deported.

— Pam Wilson, National Adoption Coalition SA Spokesperson

Young teenagers, often they do not want to tell anyone and try and hide it, and then obviously women have been raped by family members or strangers.

— Pam Wilson, National Adoption Coalition SA Spokesperson

Mothers that we have spoken to who have abandoned...it's often as if they dissociate themselves from it, that they do not see themselves as the perpetrator of the child abandonment but rather as victims of their own situation, they are so disempowered that they do not see that what they are doing is necessarily wrong.